............And Gold

The game plan coming into Nationals was always two Golds in the 800m and 1,500m,having missed out in the 800m by 3 100th's of a second I was now twice as determined to win the 1,500m,however to do so I would have to buck a lifelong trend of having never won a major 1,500m race.In high school I finished runner up in my junior and senior year and aside from my Mid Atlantic 1,500m victory on May 31st I had no major metric mile victories to my name.....today felt like the day to rewrite history!!!! Yesterday I arrived at the track uptight and tense this morning I felt calm and relaxed,no dropping my bag off and sequestering myself today,I hung out in and around the athletes tent and the surrounding area,took advantage of being able to get a mile warm up in on the track b4 the womens 1,500's b4 heading off to the softball/baseball field to stretch and get my mile warm up in. While doing my mile warm up I ran into the great Nolan Shaheed who like me yesterday had been beaten for the gold in the 800m,we shook hands and wished each other good luck in our respective 1,500s,warm up taken care of I returned to the athletes tent to await the call to the track for my race. Having seen my good friend Frank Condon win his 1,500m I then saw Nolan also win his,the omens were good and as my age group was being lead to the track Nolan and I passed each other,we exchanged fist bumps and Nolan told me"now it,s your turn"I didn,t need any extra motivation but this was special when a living legend of masters track like Nolan Shaheed does that you have to feel inspired. While Neil Fitzgerald was always my main threat in the 800m I knew in the 1,500m Sean Messiter possed a threat to my 1,500m aspirations,I knew exactly how I was going to run this race,Sean and I were seeded #1 & #2 and lined uptogether on the starting line,and just like in the 800m Warren McCulloch would prove to be a wild card,one of these days the Canadien athletes who compeat at Nationals will be listed on the entries,it,s a disadvantage to us not knowing what they,re bringing to the race/races and also a tad disrespectful to them. Down the back straight Warren got himself in between Sean and I but I didn,t panic, I knew exactly how I was going to react,we went through 300m in 51 seconds,right on pace,last year in the 1,500m my 300m,700m,1,100m splits were 50,2.00,3.06,at 500m I swung around Warren to put myself on Sean's heals,there was never a inkling to go to the front,I was only ever going to make one move to the front and that was at 200m to go,2.01 at 700m everything was going to plan sofar,how often in a race can you say that? My eyes got as big as dinner plates when we reached the bell,3.10 I couldn,t believe my good fortune,coming into today Sean had a seasons best of 4.11 and I owned a 4.12 from the NJ C,ships as well as a pr of 4.11.73 from last year,I was 400m away from forfilling a lifelong ambition of a major 1,500m title. For a split second w/ 300m to go it felt like Sean was getting away from me,again I didn,t panic just stepped it up to get the distance between us close,as Sean crossed the 200m mark it looked like his head began to roll from side to side,my cue to unleash a kick of biblical preportions,how prolific was it?I clocked a 60 second final lap w/ a closing 200m of 27 seconds on my way to victory,I was going to add the 1,500m National Championship title to last years 800m and reverse a lifelong trend of being the bridesmaid but nevert he bride at 1,500m. I probably could,ve gone sub 4.10 today had I not began to celebrate my victory w/ a double fist pump some 20m from the line,as it was I clocked a pr and subsequent club record w/ my 4.10.78,the sub 4.10 will come trust me,I wanted to live the moment of becoming a National Champion again. After thanking God for my victory I fell to the track in a moment of relife and release,all my hard work over the last 19 weeks had been repaid,I sought out runner up Sean Messiter and thnked him for making it an honest race,it took guts to try and run a 1,500m from the front like he did and just as I had rolled the dice yesterday in the 800m and come up short because a runner of Neil,s caliber was lying in wait today I had executed my race plan w/ aplomb. Why was the 1,500m so special to me?asides from never having won a major 1,500m title,I thought back to Charlotte 06 as I sat in the stands waiting for the 1,500m race to start I told myself"next year you,ll be out there running it"and now two years later I,m National Champion at 1,500m................plus I ,ve NEVER been shy about my love of Ronnie Delaney,Marcus o Sullivan and the guv,nor Eamonn Coghlan,their exploits at 1,500m are legendry and while I,m nowhere near in their league I do feel a sence of accomplishment as an Irish miler today.